Robinson CrusoePalace Theatre, Manchester.There is no need of art to find the mind’s construction in Mr Norman Wisdom’s face. It is plain for all to see. It is a philosophy apparently based on the fear (not always justified but expressed several times during the performance) that people are laughing at him. He seeks to persuade us at such moments that he does not like being laughed at; and since we are willing to suspend our disbelief so long as the comedian assists us, we prepare to accept this outlook. It is not new but many comedians have built some solid foundations upon it.

Mr Wisdom is, as we can all see, a little man; downtrodden, too, on occasion, and likely to sulk small-boyishly if he cannot have his way. At the same time he is not without an intermittent sort of valour: he will stretch strings of sausages to their uttermost and sting Mrs Crusoe terribly without a word of regret. He will take up the trumpet, the clarinet, and the drums, argue with the conductor, conduct the orchestra itself, and engage in a duel with a violinist in the pit without turning a hair.

Norman Wisdom and Bruce Forsyth who are to appear in Robinson Crusoe at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. Photograph: John Smart/ANL/REX/Shutterstock

He never leaves us in doubt about what he wants us to feel: but for this spectator at any rate (and comedians are very much a matter of taste) he seldom succeeds in sustaining whatever comedy he has attempted to build up in the way of character or situation. Discipline - the self-discipline which one would have supposed every comedian to pride himself upon - is curiously absent in a player familiar with television. Slapstick, however messy, always needs shape. No comedian, however funny, should laugh at his own extravagances quite as much as Mr Wisdom did last night. But he was undoubtedly well liked.

“Robinson Crusoe” is also extravagant in Mr Harry Bright’s shiny production. There is much colour and spectacle, and Mr Billy Whittaker brings a fine, old-fashioned approach to Mrs Crusoe. The narrative, however, does not come round very often.